But of course we all know it has nothing to do with this: “Germany frees killer of U.S. diver,” from CNN, with thanks to all who sent this in:
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) — A Hezbollah militant sentenced to life in Germany for murdering a U.S. Navy diver during the 1985 hijacking of a U.S. jetliner has been freed, officials said.
The German government denied on Tuesday the release was related to the freeing of a German hostage in Iraq.
Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released Thursday and allowed to return to his native Lebanon on the next day, after qualifying for parole after 19 years in prison, said Ulrich Hermanski, spokesman for the North Rhine Wesphalia state justice ministry….
Hamadi was convicted in 1989 in Frankfurt, Hessen state, for the beating and shooting of Robert Dean Stethem, a 23-year-old U.S. Navy diver whose body was thrown on the tarmac at Beirut airport during the hijacking of TWA Flight 847….
The German government also denied there was any link between Hamadi’s release and the freeing of Suzanne Osthoff, a German archaeologist, in Iraq last week.